What is Autoblogging? It is the term for blogs which automatically generate content, as opposed to the work of manually writing individual posts which you don’t have the time to do. A properly set up autoblog can perpetuate itself endlessly. If you want to post news from your business then you can do that as well.

Autoblogging works similarly to picking up a copy of the Times and reading a story that came from Reuters or API. A autoblog pulls relevant content from RSS feeds and posts it to the autoblog. The added value is having the selected relevant content presented in one place for the reader (and for the search engines).

An autoblog which is frequently updated with quality content and is running on the top rated open source blogging platform – WordPress – is one of the most effective search engine marketing strategies in use today. Google and other search engines easily index WordPress blogs because of the way that WordPress blogs are constructed, in categories, with a timeline and frequently updated content. In search, “Content is King.” Google is all about content.

The largest problem most bloggers and Internet marketers face is keeping their blogs updated with quality content necessary to dominate Google and other search engines. The amount of time and work that most Internet marketers exert into developing their sites leaves them exhausted and wondering why they ever embarked on such an effort initially. Now what if you heard that NumberOneOnTheList.com could provide you with a premium blog that was constantly refreshed with quality content automatically?

The best source of information on Google that I know of is (drum roll) Google.

Here are four GoogleWebmasterHelp YouTube videos which I have attempted to arrange in order of increasing technicality. All four videos show Google’s Matt Cutts answering questions about Google.

The GoogleWebmasterHelp videos are only part of many Google sources of info on Google. Where are the rest? Do a Google search and find them.

What are some of the things on your radar, or some of the trends in search you’d like to talk about?

What are some search trends on your radar?

A recent article of Danny Sullivan suggests that Google uses Twitter and Facebook links as a ranking signal. Can you confirm this? Can you elaborate a little bit more on this?

Does Google use data from social sites in ranking?

Name 5 examples of SEO misinformation from the past year given by reputable persons that made you want to bang your head against the wall. (You don’t need to name names.)

What are some examples of SEO misinformation?

We have a Q&A section with 10 questions per page. The oldest questions, which are some of the best, are buried on the 4th or 5th page and are not showing up in searches. Do you have any advice on how to implement paging?

Doing two 60 – 90 second videos, then uploading them to YouTube can be done inexpensively. A PowerPoint slide show plus voiceover, video touring around your facilities with voiceover, or a simple “talking head” these are not costly or difficult.

Once you’ve got a video, if you like some things about it and you don’t like other aspects, I recommend that you upload it to YouTube now. Waiting for a perfect video invites procrastination. Just resolve to make your next video better.

Meta tags provide information about webpages to help search engines categorize them correctly. Meta tags are part of the HTML coding, but are not directly visible to a user visiting the site.

To see your meta tags, go to your website’s home page and in the VIEW menu of your browser select SOURCE. Look for the meta tags (near the top, in the “head” section) which will look like this:

NumberOneOnTheList.com views meta tags as an important part of search engine optimization. The meta data is viewed and recorded by search engine automated programs (crawlers) and there’s no downside to using meta tags. The SEO community agrees that your Title is vital.

3 important meta elements:

(1) Keywords – Pick the best keywords you can by looking at your business the way a potential customer about to search the internet might look. Use surveys, look at your competition’s website and find the keywords that your target market uses.

(2) Description – The meta description will appear in the Google search listing for your webpage. Use your keywords appropriately and make it as compelling as you can so the searcher visits your webpage. Use 160 characters or less.

(3) Title – Use your keywords, condense your description and make sure you put the best one’s first.

The limit for your Title is 70 characters on most search engines. There is no penalty for going over but the search engines with the 70 character limit will not read more than that. I usually go beyond the 70 characters.

Notice that both your Description and your Title back up your keywords by using them. This is further supported by using keywords in the text in the body of the page. Don’t try to use keywords constantly, use them when on-point and relevant.

Although meta tags should be reviewed from time to time (about as often as you’d do a complete website redesign) do not change your meta information frequently.

It is a great pleasure to present Special Guest Blogger Bruce Wiseman, [email protected] author and Master Marketer. Visit Bruce’s company website at http://www.ontargetresearch.com for more information on the benefits available for your company with correct use of the technology of Marketing and Positioning.

The Menu by Bruce Wiseman

I stepped outside my Chicago hotel last week into a piranha-like wind with icicle teeth.

The only reason I left the 75 degree sunshine of La La land was to do a couple of television shows there to promote my book on the financial crisis.

The marketing campaign around the book (Crisis by Design The Untold Story of the Global Financial Coup) has been enlightening.

We are using two major marketing initiatives to promote it. The first is a traditional media-based PR campaign which involves radio interviews on stations across the country. Big, small, nationally syndicated or local news talk, I have been on the phone at all hours of day and night. Book sales are responding.

And, there is the occasional television appearance as in the land many winds noted above. The media campaign is being run by good friend, Marsha Friedman’s company, Event Management Services ( http://emsincorporated.com).

We took a look at Google Analytics (a free service provided by the Lord of the Internet at http://www.google.com/analytics/ that focuses a digital microscope on your website traffic and gives you the kind of analysis that makes the marketing Gods smile.) While we could see the bump in the number of people visiting the site from radio shows (let’s hear it for talk radio), overall, the traffic driven to the site from social media – blogging, Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn – exceeded the media driven visitors.

The point here is not to shy away from traditional PR, no, no – especially if you are an author. The point is that I had considered social media a step child in the campaign until I looked at the numbers.

It’s not that I didn’t know social media was valuable. Indeed, the shift in the media landscape in recent years and the power of social media to attract customers has been is a major reason that we have expanded our menu of services. Indeed, like a customer in a fine Chinese restaurant you can now select one or more services from the following menu. We can do it all, but if so, you better man up your phones, as you are likely to get a serious influx of traffic.

I do some of these personally, and for some I bring in professional associates who have proven their chops with me and my clients time and again.

SURVEYS. The house specialty. Our signature offering. We have been conducting surveys of customers and prospects for companies large and small for a quarter of a century. We are very good at it. Pricing on these vary depending on the public to be surveyed and the size of the job.

ONLINE SURVEYS. We also conduct online surveys, made much easier these days if you have an email data base of your clients, or prospects or can get one. Here we can create the survey, post it on line and write an invitation for you to send out with a link to the survey. We tabulate the results and provide an analysis with recommendations based on the results.

Analysis and recommendations, I might add, that are honed with the experience of a quarter of a century of professional expertise.

Surveys will provide you with the feedback from your clients and prospects that will enable you to build a powerful foundation for your marketing campaign/s. Cost, $1475. Timing, about 2 weeks.

VIDEOS. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth…countless thousands.

Videos can tell your story driving your message into the minds of your customers in ways nothing else can. Videos can be posted on your website, on YouTube, and / or sent as video clips to your customers or prospects via email. I work with a professional video producer. COST $1,000.

SOCIAL MEDIA. If you don’t have a social media presence, you should. It is where the world of marketing and PR live today. We can arrange for you to get set up on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and others. Not only will you have a presence on those sites, but we will arrange to have a social media press kit built for you like the one below, which is not only a mini website about your business in the guise of a business card, it can also contain a video. This entire package is available for $399.

We also have access to seriously expanded social media services if you are in need of a great deal more kick on the Internet.

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT. If you want someone to manage your social media sites (whether we have had them built for you or you have put it up yourself), we can arrange for that service as well, with pricing dependent on how aggressive you want be on your campaigns.

So, that’s the menu. The dessert comes after we’ve done the work and you have increased your sales.

If we can be of service to you in any of these areas, please let me know via any of the contact channels noted below.

And if there is any other service in the area of surveys or marketing or social media that you are in need of, but don’t see above, let me know. We may be able to provide them for you or, if not, refer you to someone who can.